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A Sunny Sunday in Basel

This morning started very early with a terrific headache. Immediately I recognized it as an attack by the defeated enemy because he usually chooses to attack me when I’m sleeping. And I knew also why the Lord had allowed the attack: I hadn’t asked Him before posting yesterday’s blogpost (see Hidden in God). I repented and asked the Lord if I should take the post down. He said no. So it remains up.

From my trip to Cern yesterday.

I also asked my Church Family for prayers. I quickly fell back asleep and slept another couple of hours. When I woke up the headache was completely gone. I had my Bible and prayer time followed by breakfast. My question to God was where shall I go today? I wanted to go to HOP Basel, the House of Prayer. But it is closed on Sundays.

As I looked at places in Basel that stirred my spirit, a plan began to gel. Three places along the Rhine River jumped out at me: Gefahrliche Uberfahrt (Dangerous Crossing), The Pharmacy Museum, and Palafittes (a UNESCO World Heritage site[1]). So I set out, and took a tram to the first place, the Dangerous Crossing. But as I watched our progress on my GPS, the tram went farther and farther away from the river. I got off the tram at the French border (at the edge of town) and got on one going back into town.

The MissionHaus Hotel, my encouraging sign.

One street the tram went down was called Mission Strasse. I had noticed it on the way out, but on the way back I saw something I hadn’t seen before: a big building called MissionHaus. I hit the stop button, got off at the next stop, and walked back to the MissionHaus. It turns out it was just a hotel named for the street. Still, it was an encouragement, and as I noted yesterday, God always gives me encouragement as I’m heading out, so this was it.

A random castle on the street of this modern city.

As I waited for the next tram to take me back to where I had gotten off in the wrong direction, I saw that I had misread the map, and taken the wrong tram. But God had allowed the mistake so that I would get my encouragement. I got a nice walk from the correct tram to the river and all three sites.

English starts about halfway down on the plaque.

I didn’t know what it was about the Danger Crossing that had attracted my spirit until I got there and read the plaque, which starts out talking about supernatural happenings:

Traveling the Kymaara, a cognate term meaning the shape of the world, always held the potential of unexpected crossings of unseen membranes into unknown layers of time and space[2].

The story that follows sounds like legend, but this first sentence sounds like science fiction to me. And what is the nearest structure to this place? A Catholic Church. The Catholic Church, you should remember, is searching the skies above Arizona for aliens to baptize[3]. Many MUFON investigators have come to understand that the only way to stop abduction experiences is to pronounce the name Jesus. Why would aliens fear the name of Jesus? Only one reason: they’re not aliens. They’re demons. So I prayed for all ungodly supernatural activity to stop there.

St. George slaying a dragon on a Catholic Church. You can see the lance coming out the back of the dragon’s head.

From there I walked along the river, enjoying the lovely sunshine. It was warm and very pretty. The trees are budding and my nose detected the hyacinths before my eyes did. But eventually I had to climb the stairs up to street level to get to my next destination: the Pharmacy Museum.

The Pharmacy Museum’s snaky sign.

I also wasn’t sure why I was even going to the Pharmacy Museum. Why is it that I’m so often clueless about why I am called to go certain places? I guess that’s because it really isn’t my idea, it’s God calling me. He knows why. As I approached the door of the museum, I saw that their sign is a snake hovering over a bowl, tongue sticking out—not a nice image. That’s when I understood: this is sorcery.

A unicorn skull?

Lancelot and a friend from the circus.

When I went inside there was a tour in German was in progress. The guide was very animated and made eye contact with me. I tried to communicate with my eyes that I don’t understand. Then he went over to an object covered with a sheet. It appeared to be a unicorn skull. I wished that I understood what he was saying about it. Now, I know that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus had Lancelot, a “living unicorn.” Lancelot was not a real unicorn, of course. He was a goat, and when he was young, they had moved the two horn buds to the center of his forehead so that they grew together as one horn[4]. This didn’t look like Lancelot at all. This definitely looked like a horse skull, and the horn is a whole lot longer than Lancelot’s. The German tour began to bore me, and I started looking around. I saw books on alchemy, and sorcery was confirmed. So I began to pray, the tour notwithstanding.

The Pharmacy Museum’s Alchemy and Mysticism book.

I got a brochure in English, and the word humanism jumped out at me. The brochure explains that the house the museum is in has been a center of humanism since 1514, and in the 16th and 17th centuries the kitchen became a laboratory, used as an alchemist’s kitchen in which they searched for the elixir of eternal life.

I had never considered the connection between pharmacy, sorcery, alchemy, and humanism. But obviously God knows that there is a connection.

One last thing I noticed in the brochure was this: the museum is not open on Sundays. But here it was open with a tour on Sunday. This was arranged by God, who has promised me open doors.

Don’t call the Fire Department to catch him! This is just a sculpture on the building that the Palafittes is in.

Then I walked on to the last place: the UNESCO Palafittes. But that was closed on Sunday—really closed. So I went to buy myself some dinner. I had noticed that the grocery stores all over town were closed. But the one I’ve been shopping at is in the train station. When I got there, I saw that the grocery store was closed at the train station, too. Happily, there is a smaller grocery in the train station that was open. I got everything I needed. I’ve been making my meals here because Switzerland is a very expensive place. Plus, this way I can be sure that I can maintain a low carb, low sugar diet. So I got a steak to cook and some asparagus, and had a lovely meal.

I did quite a bit of walking today, and my feet are pretty sore. But it’s been a really good day. I don’t know what God is going to have me do tomorrow, but I know that He leads me. And if you’re reading this, then you know that He has allowed me to post this. God is good!

[1] UNESCO World Heritage sites almost all are places where human sacrifice was practiced or at the very least other gods (demons) were worshiped.